Thumper
03-02-2022, 09:54 AM
This Ukrainian mess brings back many childhood memories. I was going to make this a big-time Thump post, but I'll spare you dufebutts. I remember much of it like it was just yesterday although I was too young to really understand all that was going on. Now, use your imagination and switch places with a few of the players. Let's imagine the evil Putin and his empire as the United States and little Ukraine as Cuba in the very early 60's. If you know the history (which I emersed myself in about 25 or so years ago) of the Cuban Missile Crisis, you can draw an awful lot of parallels. I've written many times of my VERY close Navy SEAL buddy and I have to admit, he was the impetus for my becoming more involved with brushing up on my history of that time, other than my childhood memories of fighter jets and B-52 bombers flying so low, they practically took the roof off our house as they were relocating. (B-52's out, fighter jets in) I didn't really understand enough of what was going on at the time (I was 9-10 years old), but I do remember the adults in the family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc) being a bit nervous, but I was just excited to run out of the house to watch the fighters and bombers fly over close enough for me to see the crew through the windscreens.
My SEAL buddy? He's older than me. He was UDT before Pres. Kennedy (a Navy man himself) pushed through establishing a Navy version of Army and Marine Special Forces. My buddy went from UDT to SEAL training and was on the very first SEAL team established. Actually, a member of SEAL Team 2 as SEAL Team 1 was based on the West coast (California) and SEAL Team 2 was based on the East coast (Virginia). It took years of knowing him before I ever got him to talk about any of his missions and I was all ears when I finally coaxed him to open up. The real irony was, once we talked, we found out we had worked a couple of the same missions in Vietnam, at the same time, but never knew each other at that time. Anyway, his friendship and hearing of his missions kindled my interest in the Bay of Pigs era, including the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regarding the Bay of Pigs, his 6-man team had been dumped of by a submarine off of Cuba and they were to move in once the exiles made their landings, but if you know the history, all Hell broke loose and his team had to be extracted by sub back to Florida.
Anyway, if you have any interest at all, you may want to dig around a bit and check out the history of The Bay of Pigs, then Operation Mongoose and on to the actual Cuban Missile Crisis. I think my buddy may have moved on to Africa after that to go chase Che Guevara. He had all that under his belt before I headed to 'Nam as a snotty-nosed kid to share a few missions with him. He's kind'a my hero if you couldn't tell by now.
Oh, another interesting read (my buddy turned me onto this years ago, as I had no clue), check out a Russian dude named Vaski Arkhipov and his role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Talk about an unsung hero! I've seen references to WWIII with Putin's saber rattling, but Arkhipov probably single-handedly prevented WWIII way back in 1962! (long before Stanislav Petrov)
My SEAL buddy? He's older than me. He was UDT before Pres. Kennedy (a Navy man himself) pushed through establishing a Navy version of Army and Marine Special Forces. My buddy went from UDT to SEAL training and was on the very first SEAL team established. Actually, a member of SEAL Team 2 as SEAL Team 1 was based on the West coast (California) and SEAL Team 2 was based on the East coast (Virginia). It took years of knowing him before I ever got him to talk about any of his missions and I was all ears when I finally coaxed him to open up. The real irony was, once we talked, we found out we had worked a couple of the same missions in Vietnam, at the same time, but never knew each other at that time. Anyway, his friendship and hearing of his missions kindled my interest in the Bay of Pigs era, including the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regarding the Bay of Pigs, his 6-man team had been dumped of by a submarine off of Cuba and they were to move in once the exiles made their landings, but if you know the history, all Hell broke loose and his team had to be extracted by sub back to Florida.
Anyway, if you have any interest at all, you may want to dig around a bit and check out the history of The Bay of Pigs, then Operation Mongoose and on to the actual Cuban Missile Crisis. I think my buddy may have moved on to Africa after that to go chase Che Guevara. He had all that under his belt before I headed to 'Nam as a snotty-nosed kid to share a few missions with him. He's kind'a my hero if you couldn't tell by now.
Oh, another interesting read (my buddy turned me onto this years ago, as I had no clue), check out a Russian dude named Vaski Arkhipov and his role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. Talk about an unsung hero! I've seen references to WWIII with Putin's saber rattling, but Arkhipov probably single-handedly prevented WWIII way back in 1962! (long before Stanislav Petrov)